WesWorld

Gentlemen,

both Ophion-class vessels have been severly damaged. One is down to 61% and the other to 75%.

The question now is - what to do with them?

Option A is to repair them which includes sub-options A1 for standard repairs and A2 for costly quick repairs

Option B is to use to use this as an oppurtunity to modify them which includes sub-options B1 refit (25%) or B2 for rebuild (50%).

What would you do and why? What would a modified Ophion look like?

Repairs and a 15% refit to get them up to modern standards should be more than sufficient.

The only real upgrades I'd think they'd need are radar, if the RSAN has it, and possibly a bit more in the way of anti-torpedo protection and heavier AA weapons.

If it were me, I'd probably just repair them for now, and hold off on the refit until I had radar available. At that point, I'd go for the 25% refit, install radar, replace the 88mms with something around 105mm, and add smallish bulges to improve the torpedo protection, along with extending the life of the ship.

Fact is 39% damage means 14820ts of damage and 18,33 month repair time - or 29640ts and ~9 month. Just to repair a 1924er BB which probably will come back too late to play any active role in the war.

So the RSAN wisely has to decide what to do and probably incooperate any lessons learned, right?

I agree they most likely will not return in time to see any more action in the war. But so far carriers have not show they are the war winning ships of a fleet, so capital ships should be considered a must in all major fleets.

So how are you doing in regard to oncoming capital ships? That is the decision in the middle of a war; give them a true refit or just patch them up to send them back into the fray. You are the one that know the future status of your capital ships.

One option is to repair them partially only. See the RSAN Réunion - she´s down to 80%. But she´s an old lady without any major refit. So I decided to bring her back to 90% which can be done quickly and in time to have her back at sea in 3 month. She suffers some penalty regarding fighting status but that´s better than have her sit out the war in a yard. After the war there is enough time to decided if she´d be turned into something new - either BB or razorblades.

The OPHIONs however are buch better fighting ships so I´m not sure if a partial repair is a good idea.

Another problem is the lack of adequate docks in South America. They are either already filled or in range of the Argentinean bombers.... :o/

Still the decision exist of how you stand in regard to capital ships right now. Do you have enough right now or coming up the pipeline in the short term? If you consider your forces could hold the fort I go with the option B. You should have some major units joining the fleet in 1936 IIRC so at least in numbers IMO you could do that. But of course I've know to be wrong a lot of times.

Well, the RSAN has two mini-BCs/super-cruiser and one 40kts BB joining the fleet 1936 and another full scale BB in 1937 but that has little impact on my current decisions. Do I now know if I will not loose another capital ship or two in this bloody war? No, so I better restore the OPHIONs to full power again.

It already has been a difficult decidion what to do with the HERTOGs. They were badly damaged old hulls and would have required long repair times, blocking docks and eating up many ressources. Hence the decision to lay them up without armament or - should I need the material immediately - scrap them.

The RSAN rates the large and modern battleship as the ultima ratio at sea. There´s nothing that can stand up to such a warships short of another full-scale capital ship.

At a guess, perhaps the repair bills are too steep. Could much of that damage be flooding, which couldn't be months to repair. Seydlitz was esentially sunk but took 5 months to repair. Taking years to repair a ship seems unrealistic. The ships salvaged at PH were rebuilt not just repaired and should be seen as separate.

Cheers,

<shrug> But then, taking twice as long as it should fits with the build times for larger ships.

Quoted

Originally posted by HoOmAn
The OPHIONs however are buch better fighting ships so I´m not sure if a partial repair is a good idea.

Another problem is the lack of adequate docks in South America. They are either already filled or in range of the Argentinean bombers.... :o/

OOC, I look at the future as a bit more unstable. With Clieto on the rocks, it is not unreasonable to expect a bit of an arms race. The Ophions are robust enough to want to have around in 5-10 years.

At this time I'd try to *fix* the minor flaws they have.
New directors, move the seaplane to the stern, improved AA, the thin bulges Hrolf suggested to give your thin bulkheads a bit more standoff.

Now, you can do that with a 25% refit for the one at 75%, but the one at 61% I would have design staff find out what the likely benefits of new machinery may be. If you went for a 50%, what can you do with that space and weight? The answer may be nothing much.

As for docks, SANTA does mean you can put in a Dutch dock, and there is a free Type 4 in the DEI.

Personally I don't think they are that bad as is. As Hrolf said replace the 88's with 105's and add radar (if you don't have it look for it from other nations developing it).

A 50% partial reconstruction should be more than adequate in my view, preferably even just a 25% refit for the lesser damaged of the two.

Quoted

Originally posted by Kaiser Kirk
As for docks, SANTA does mean you can put in a Dutch dock, and there is a free Type 4 in the DEI.

Thanks. But would you sail a ship in her state from South America to the DEI?

I have free docks available in South Africa and thought that could be too much...but probably I am wrong and at 61% she can easily make that trip.

I might be tempted to wait until the spring before sending her to South Africa, but I certainly wouldn't bother sending her to the DEI.

Quoted

Thanks. But would you sail a ship in her state from South America to the DEI?

I have free docks available in South Africa and thought that could be too much...but probably I am wrong and at 61% she can easily make that trip.

These two US vessels were severely damaged, but both of them managed to get from the West Pacific to the US (Franklin, the hardest hit carrier to survive WW2, even all the way to New York).

So I think it is not too ridiculous an idea for Ophion and Hyperion to reach the DEI if it is really neccessary. However, I think it is better to send them over to South Africa. It's closer and repairs on the damaged ships can start much sooner than if you were to send them to the DEI.

Most of the hits seem to be 6". The torpedo caused 3% damage. The cost to repair the damage seems to be out of proportion the damage she seems to have suffered. South Dakota was back in action withing months of 2nd Guadalcanal suffering 42 hits from 8" down.

Cheers,

Quoted

Originally posted by alt_naval
Most of the hits seem to be 6". The torpedo caused 3% damage. The cost to repair the damage seems to be out of proportion the damage she seems to have suffered. South Dakota was back in action withing months of 2nd Guadalcanal suffering 42 hits from 8" down.

Oh, it is, but that's the rules we're working under.

Quoted

Originally posted by alt_naval
The torpedo caused 3% damage.

Doh! That should have been 13% (74 to 61). Thanks for noticing....

Quoted

Originally posted by HoOmAn

Quoted

Originally posted by Kaiser Kirk
As for docks, SANTA does mean you can put in a Dutch dock, and there is a free Type 4 in the DEI.

Thanks. But would you sail a ship in her state from South America to the DEI?

I have free docks available in South Africa and thought that could be too much...but probably I am wrong and at 61% she can easily make that trip.

I should have picked up on that in the initial post, as you referenced South American docks, not necessarily all docks.

You're still in 'moderate' damage. Looking to 'heavy' damage, speed restrictions and concerns start to kick in, but serious things like towing and risk of loss are near the bottom end- closer to 35%.

Considering ships like Franklin, Yorktown, North Carolina, South Dakota, long ocean journeys are doable after heavy damage. The torpedo hit is the major one, but could be patched for the trip.

So yes, making one's way home would be doable. The Navy might want to make sure not storm is coming and take Ophion up north toward the equator then over to Kamerun and down, to avoid weather.

Shouldn't repairing ships be easier, not harder??